State spurs wood pellet delivery expansion

A $94,000 Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund grant helped put a new bulk wood pellet delivery truck on the road this year. The 2017 Kenworth is capable of hauling 16 tons of wood pellets for Vermont Renewable Fuels, which delivers wood for heating to commercial and residential customers throughout Vermont.

“We are so grateful to have received this grant to make this investment possible,” Alison MacDonald of Vermont Renewable Fuels said. “Adding the new truck to our fleet will allow for faster response times and expand the amount the local, renewable fuel we’re distributing to Vermonters.”

The new Vermont Renewable Fuels truck is the latest in a growing fleet of bulk delivery trucks on the road in Vermont. Bulk pellet delivery in the state is also available through Bourne’s Energy, Sandri Energy, Lyme Green Heat, Maine Energy Systems, all of which now have at least two bulk pellet trucks to serve their customers.

Andrew Perchlik, director of the Clean Energy Development Fund for the Vermont Public Service Department, said: “(We) have been working to build the bulk pellet infrastructure for the past few years and are excited with the new delivery trucks and growing demand for local wood heat.”

Wood pellets are made entirely of compressed sawdust. They can be burned in either a pellet stove or a fully automatic pellet boiler.

Currently an estimated 12 percent of Vermont households heat at least in part with pellets, a figure that’s expected to rise as more homes install automatic pellet boilers.

For information about incentives for households to convert to wood pellet heat, visit rerc-vt.org.